Jack Smith to appear next week at a public hearing to testify on Trump probes

FIRST ON FOX: Former special counsel Jack Smith will testify at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee next week, giving Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the panel a chance to question him in a public setting about their investigations into President Donald Trump.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Smith will appear before the committee on Jan. 22, a month after sitting down to testify with the committee behind closed doors and testifying for eight hours about his private consulting work.

Smith has long said he wants to speak publicly to the committee, and although Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, requested the deposition first, the chairman also said a public hearing was on the table.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM JACK SMITH’S STATEMENTS TO THE HOUSE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE

Smith investigated Trump and filed two indictments against him related to the 2020 election and alleged withholding of classified documents. Trump has pleaded not guilty and aggressively fought the charges, and Smith dropped both cases when Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy that discourages prosecuting sitting presidents.

While in a public hearing, House lawmakers could question Smith in five-minute intervals, both sides questioned Smith in one-hour sessions in the deposition. Policy first reported that Smith would attend a hearing this month.

In his first meeting with the committee, Smith provided little new information and defended his work.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without taking into account President Trump’s political affiliation, activities, beliefs, or his candidacy in the 2024 presidential elections,” Smith said, according to the transcript of the deposition. “The lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor was that we acted based on the facts and what the law required.”

JACK SMITH DEFENDS REPUBLICANS’ PHONE RECORDINGS: ‘TOTALLY APPROPRIATE’

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., watches a hearing with the House Judiciary Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC, on September 03, 2025 (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Smith said he was following Justice Department policy when his team made the controversial decision to subpoena the phone records of several Republican senators and House members as part of the 2020 election investigation. The subpoenas seek a narrow set of data, Smith said.

“If Donald Trump had chosen to call a number of Democratic senators [to delay the election certification proceedings]We would get toll records for Democratic senators. “Donald Trump is responsible for why these records were collected and why we collected them,” Smith said.

Republicans said the subpoenas were an unconstitutional violation of the speech or debate clause and generally said the Biden Justice Department was abusing its authority, in their view, by bringing politicized criminal charges against a former president and presidential candidate.

Trump, who has long called Smith a “thug” and said he should be jailed, said he welcomed Smith at a public hearing.

President Donald Trump during a presentation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, December 15, 2025. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Asked about Smith’s hearing next week, a representative for Smith provided a statement from one of his attorneys, Lanny Breuer.

“Jack has made clear for months that he is ready and willing to answer questions at a public hearing regarding his investigations into President Trump’s alleged unlawful efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents,” Breuer said. he said.